On a Tuesday morning in June, experienced hiker Stan Reese set out on a solo 4 day hike in the mountainous area outside of San Bernardino, California. Everything was going great until day three of his hike. As Reese started to hike towards San Gorgonian Mountain, he looked over his left shoulder to the north and saw heavy smoke. Being a southern California resident, he knew that meant a wildfire had broken out and he would need to abandon his plans immediately.

Reese quickly returned to his campsite, crammed all of his stuff into his pack and started to hike out of the increasingly dangerous area. He visualized the direction of the fire and felt there was no immediate risk in his plan since the smoke was pushing to the east and away from where his car was parked.

Frank Rawley is an avid sailor and said he always checks the weather prior to setting sail. Although conditions were listed as fair, he and his crew found themselves in bad weather on the second day of their journey from North Carolina to Pensacola. The forecast had been wrong in both directions and the wind grew extremely rapid, damaging the sails and rigging. It was then that Frank activated the S.O.S. on his SPOT Gen3, alerting GEOS International Emergency Response Coordination Center of his location.

“If the boat had been parallel with the waves, we would have capsized,” said Frank. “We were 63 miles offshore in 30 foot breaking seas with wind gusts at 50 miles per hour. We deployed a drogue, but eventually the waves ripped it off.”

Tom Madlem had been riding motorcycles for 50 years. Death Valley was one trip he had never taken before though. He and a friend had planned to take 2 weeks off and make the ride. However, the first part of the trip was going to force Madlem to commit the “cardinal sin” - biking alone.

This meant he would be riding alone through the desert for two days before meeting up with his friend. After his wife and son begged him not to go by himself, he was then convinced to purchase his SPOT GEN3™ for the trip so his family would have peace of mind. He made it the first day just fine alone. Tuesday morning, he had not ridden 10 miles when he took a hard fall on his bike.

On March 15, 2014 Jamie Waine trekked to Bull Creek Hill in Alberta's Kananaskis Country with her boyfriend, his dad and a group of avid geocacher and hikers. Having reached the top of the lookout, the trio were four kilometres from the bottom of Bull Creek Hill when Jamie slipped on some rocks and broke her ankle.The group's SPOT Gen3 Satellite GPS Messenger was used to send an S.O.S. to emergency services along with GPS location coordinates.

Dale, a retired community college administrator and instructor, is an avid hiker, backpacker and cyclist. At the age of 67, he now spends most of his free time hiking through the backcountry of Oregon and California alone and with fellow backpackers.

Like many hikers, Dale often worried about connectivity during his travels. This is why SPOT piqued his interest when reading one of his favorite magazines. Soon after, Dale visited REI to purchase his first SPOT device. In celebration of Memorial Day, Dale and 7 other hikers ranging from ages 51 to 74 decided to take a five day trip to Mattole Beach Campground near Petrolia, California. This time, he made sure to add his new SPOT Gen 3™ as a "must bring" item.